The fourth chapter! Now later on, Godric, Helga, and Rowena will be in later chapters, if this was a game, they would be awesome fighting characters! Next chapter Hermione will know the truth of Rowena's package for her. Also, since this is a FF crossover story, I thought it would be good with some FF summons, the birthstones are like the ones from IX, but anyone can use them if they know what they are. Characters belong to J.K.Rowling and Square Enix. Reks belongs to me. Songs belongs to Yuna Ito, Kelly Clarkson, and D.H.T

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Chapter 4 Hidden Truths

Hermione gasped through the cold air, how Godric knew her name, not to mention that he knew she was standing right next to him. They stared at each other for a while, breathing through cold air; clouds of their cold breath could be seen. Reaching out his hand, Godric touched her birthstones and stared at them. Swallowing hard, Hermione stared into the golden eyes of her kingdom’s founder. More than anything, she wanted to know the actual secret of her birthstone, so she asked Godric.

“Those birthstones are for summoning great aeons, aren’t they?!” she almost shouted.

“Yes, Bahamut, the king of all dragons, and Fenrir, the demon wolf of the spirit,” Godric told her, dropping his hand. “Wish with all your heart and they’ll come for you.”

“Why?! You were the first one to summon the great aeons, weren’t you?! So why me?!”

“Hermione, when the birthstones of aeons choose its master, it chooses the purity of the person’s heart. Come with me.”

Nodding, Hermione followed Godric to a place, but a couple of goblins appeared, Godric and Hermione took out their swords, attacking first, Godric sliced his sword through one, nearly killing it. Hermione ran toward it and killed it, a goblin attacked Hermione, but quickly thinking, Hermione killed it. Godric killed about two goblins at once, Hermione couldn’t believe how good Godric. But than again, she realized it was the founder of the kingdom of Gryffindor.

The other goblins seemed to run away, but they weren’t running away. Because they were coming back with a giant mountain troll, Hermione gripped her sword; Godric put his hand on her shoulder. Looking at him, Hermione nodded and ran toward the troll, swinging her sword with all her might. But it barely pierced the troll’s skin; it hit Hermione, who was knocked into Godric’s arms, she looked up at him. He put her on his shoulders and ran toward the troll, slicing his sword through its arm.

The troll roared in pain, Godric ran toward past the troll and continued through the frozen snow winds. The cold winds were daggers against Hermione’s open face; she closed her eyes as he ran. Feeling the wind through her hair, she opened her eyes to an amazing sight. Godric seemed to have jumped from a cliff; the winds blew through their hair, landing on a spot between all four kingdoms. Hermione got down from Godric’s shoulders, and stared at a massive castle in front of her. It looked newly built; there was only thing in her mind.

“Hogwarts?” she wondered.

Godric nodded, taking her hand and leading her toward the castle. Walking through the hallways, they entered a giant hall; the ceiling seemed to be enchanted, showing the sky outside the castle. Hermione gasped when thousands of nobles sitting at four long tables. Standing in front of them were three people, two women and a man. One of the women had long raven hair and deep sea blue eyes, wearing dark blue robes, the other woman had shoulder length brown hair and light brown cinnamon eyes, she was wearing a light yellow robes. The man had shoulder length raven hair and deep dark emerald green eyes, wearing deep green robes.

Just upon looking at them, Hermione realized who they were. Rowena Ravenclaw, Helga Hufflepuff, and Salazar Slytherin, the founders of the kingdoms of Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Godric walked up to them, Hermione followed him, still holding his hand. They noticed Hermione behind Godric, she gasped when they saw her. After Rowena made an announcement, she, Godric, and the other founders led Hermione to a large room. Helga offered a chair for Hermione, so she could sit down. But she shook her head, looking at the four founders.

“Why did you make a muggle far from our time, Godric?!” Salazar shouted, nearly showing the handle of an emerald emblazed sword.

“She has the birthstone he’s holding,” Helga said. “The summoning stones of Bahamut and Fenrir………” She smiled at Rowena.

“Yes, having the summoning birthstones of great aeons means this girl has a great destiny,” she said. “And a great romantic encounter with the one destined for her.”

‘The one destined for me……..’ Hermione thought, seeing an image of a raven haired boy with emerald green eyes. ‘That’s how the prince looks. But I have never met him before, so would I know he’s the one for me?’

Hermione looked at the Hufflepuff Kingdom founder, who took out a topaz birthstone. Helga smiled at Hermione; Rowena left the room and came back with a wrapped package, which she handed to Hermione. Looking at the package, she looked up at Rowena, smiling, then the four founders joined their hands together and began to chant a spell to take Hermione to take her back. Tightly holding her package, she closed her ball and was curled into a ball as a pair of white wings surrounded her.

Back at the temple, Ron held Hermione’s unconscious body in his arms, waiting for his childhood friend to wait up. Hermione’s eyes slowly opened to his bright sapphire blue eyes, she smiled, and he smiled back. Seeing some another people, she immediately stood up, got on one knees, and bowed her head. A woman with long raven black hair and sad looking blue eyes, she wore light blue priestess robes, on her right was a girl with short sliver hair that her right eye and bright red eyes, on her left was a boy with short black hair and dark green eyes, on his hat was a sandy brown semi-pointy hat. They both wore light blue temple robes.

Priestess Cho Chang smiled, her assistants, Fuujin and Vivi, bowed at everyone. Sirius and Tonks smiled, Ron, Yuffie, and Nanaki simply bowed like Hermione.

“Hermione Granger from Gryffindor Kingdom, stand up to receive a special power,” Cho said.

Hermione stood up, for some reason she held out her out hand, a light in the form of a small person appeared in her hands. The light disappeared, in her hand was a small fairy version of herself; she wore a white long kimono top, sliver pants, and brown boots. Vivi turned to the priestess, he bowed as he said, “I would like to join them.”

Cho nodded, smiling. So Vivi joined the party, Hermione told Cho and Fuujin that her and her friends would return to the Gryffindor Kingdom. Sirius and Tonks left the temple; Lupin joined Hermione and the others as they left the temple. As Lupin, Yuffie, and Ron got on their horses, Hermione put Vivi on her horse, and then got on herself. While they rode to the boarder fortress, Hermione looked at her birthstone and thinking about what happened. The purity of her heart…….. What did Godric mean?

But Yuffie’s voice broke Hermione’s train of thought; she, Ron, and Lupin were backing up on their horses from the boarder fortress.

“Hermione, what are those things?!”

Standing around the boarder fortress were giant trolls in armor, they looked like the mountain troll Hermione fought with Godric. Thinking back to what Godric said to her about summoning aeons, Hermione looked at her birthstones. She recalled the words he said: ‘Wish with all your and they’ll come for you.’ Closing her eyes and taking off her birthstones, Hermione held them up in the sky. Ron, Yuffie, Lupin, Vivi, and Nanaki looked at what Hermione was doing.

‘Oh, king of dragons and spirit of the demon wolf, come to thy aid!’ she gently whispered to herself. ‘I, your master, call upon you!’

A roar and a howl could be heard; a wolf with beautiful sliver fur appeared and bowed at Hermione. A giant dragon beast with large white wings appeared, a large golden ring was over his back, and on his head were great horns. The trolls, being the stupid creatures they were, just ran to the dragon and the wolf. But they dodged the attacks, so quickly no one noticed them move to another spot. The dragon roared and a ball of fire, that seemed to come out of his mouth, was thrown at one troll, the wolf ripped the armor off the another and then ripped the troll apart. Then they disappeared, within Hermione’s birthstones.

“Wow, that…. was…… amazing!!” Yuffie shouted as Hermione put her necklace back on.

“Those were……” Ron tried to say.

“Bahamut, king of dragons and Fenrir, the demon wolf spirit,” Lupin said simply, riding toward the boarder fortress.

Hermione, Ron, Nanaki, and Yuffie followed him through the boarder fortress; there was something strange about it. No Slytherin soldiers in the fortress, everyone looked around, just the sound of the wind could be heard. Guessing the troll might have scared them away; they exited the boarder fortress and reentered the Gryffindor Kingdom. They rode through the forest through noon while Yuffie started to complain about being hungry, ignoring her, Hermione thought about what happened at the boarder fortress.

By the sun was setting, they reached the Burrow. Fred and George were waiting for them in the front yard, Lupin hid from the twins as soon as they reached the mansion. Upon seeing Yuffie and Vivi, the twins generously accepted them as part of the family. Lupin disappeared into the Diagon Ally marketplace, and waited there for Hermione.

The next day, Yuffie helped Nanaki with watching the children, Vivi helped Ron with making deliveries, and Hermione stood at her chair, staring at the crowd. Scanning the crowd for what she saw the day before, Hermione sighed and sat down.

She took a deep breath and started to sing, “If you haven’t changed your mind, then I want you by my side tonight. I’m so tired of always having to act strong. I feel so young every time I think about you, baby. If I could tell you now that I miss you….. It’s so hard to say I’m sorry.”

Yuffie gasped when she heard Hermione’s beautiful voice, Vivi was distracted by her voice that he dropped a very heavy package on Ron’s foot as she continued. “You see, I want to sing this song, not just for anyone, but for you. An endless story that keeps on shining….. Always, I wanna show you this …… for eternity.”

The man from before entered and stared at her, Hermione stared at his emerald green eyes as she sang. “Memories of our time together, this way, they don’t go away. Once I knew the warmth between us had been taken away, gentle tears started to spread over my chest. This is not where it ends; I’m missing you….. Please, don’t let go of my hand.”

Lupin entered the shop and joined the crowd, listening to Hermione sing, as Yuffie and Vivi did. Nanaki was curing Ron’s bruised foot as they listened. “You see, I wish to sing this song just for you, just one more time. An endless story of undying love….. Tell me why; oh please tell me why ‘for eternity’.’

Lightly gripping her birthstone, Hermione smiled at she continued to sing, she seemed to sing only to the raven haired man. “You see, I want to sing this song, not just anyone, but just for you. An endless story that keeps shining on….. Always, I wanna show you this for eternity……..”

To the crowd, her voice sounded more beautiful than they heard before, everyone cheered (including Yuffie being hyper) than they began to ask Hermione to sing two more songs, the man, Lupin and Vivi were the only ones who didn’t ask Hermione. Sighing, Hermione took another breath as she started a song about her brother’s sacrifice in the war for her.

“I will not make the same mistakes that you did,” she sang, remembering her brother’s death and looking at Lupin, tears forming in her eyes. “I will not let myself cause my heart so much misery. I will not break the way you did, you fell so hard. I learned the hard to never let it get that far.”

She tried to wipe her tears as Ron and Nanaki joined, listening to their friend sing. “Because of you, I never stray too far from a sidewalk. Because of you, I learned to play on the safe side, so I don’t get hurt. Because of you, I find it hard to trust not only me, but everyone around me. Because of you, I am afraid…….”

Lupin tried to see what Hermione was getting at with the song, because of her brother, so much had happened to her. “I lose my way and it’s not too long before you point it out. I cannot cry because I know that’s weakness in your eyes. I’m forced to fake a smile, a laugh everyday of my life. My heart can’t possibly break when it wasn’t even whole to start with!”

The man and Hermione locked eyes; they stared at each other as she sang about the loss of her brother. “Because of you, I never stray too far from a sidewalk. Because of you, I learned to play on the safe side, so I don’t get hurt. Because of you, I find it hard to trust not only me, but everyone around me. Because of you, I am afraid…….”

Ron wanted to comfort his friend, but all he could was protect and look over her. So he just listened to her singing a song. “I watched you die. I heard you cry every night in your sleep. I was so young, you should have known better than to lean on me. You never thought of anyone else. You just saw your pain. And now I cry in the middle of night for the same damn thing!”

Hermione thought she could see her brother, Reks, standing in the crowd, listening to her song. “Because of you, I never stray too far from a sidewalk. Because of you, I learned to play on the safe side, so I don’t get hurt. Because of you, I try my hardest just to forget everything. Because of you, I’m ashamed of my life because it’s empty! Because of you, I am afraid…… Because of you……. Because of you………”

It took awhile for Hermione to calm down after singing that song, once she had completely calm down. Taking another breath, she started to sing again.

“I know there’s something in the wake of your smile,” she sang, touching her heart. “I get notion from the look in you eyes, yea. You’ve built a love but that love falls apart. Your little piece of heaven turns to dark.”

The crowd almost to cheer as Hermione sang, the twins were grinning big grins as everyone paid to listen to her. “Listen to your heart when he’s calling for you. Listen to your heart, there’s nothing else you can do. I don’t know where you’re going and I don’t know why, but listen to your heart before you tell him goodbye.”

The man left the shop as Hermione closed her eyes, touching her birthstones. “Sometimes you wonder if this fight is worthwhile. The precious moments are all lost in the tide, yea. They’re swept away and nothing is what it seems, the feeling of belonging to your dreams.”

Thinking back to being with Godric and the other founders, Hermione looked at the fairy Hermione who floated around Vivi. “Listen to your heart when he’s calling for you. Listen to your heart, there’s nothing else you can do. I don’t know where you’re going and I don’t know why, but listen to your heart before you tell him goodbye.”

She wondered what the package Rowena gave as she continued to sing. “And there are voices that want to be heard. So much to mention, but you can’t find the words. The scent of magic, the beauty that’s been there when love was wilder than the wind!”

Yuffie, Vivi, Nanaki, Ron, Lupin, and fairy Hermione smiled as she sang the last verse. “Listen to your heart when he’s calling for you. Listen to your heart, there’s nothing else you can do. I don’t know where you’re going and I don’t know why, but listen to your heart before you tell him goodbye.”

Hermione simply bowed at the crowd and walked out of the shop, heading toward the slum market. She was a few feet away from the slum market entrance when a male ninja from Wutai approached her. He had a hi-potion bottle and a pale green orb, a big smile on his face. He gave the items to her, saying, “Take them for free!” then left.

Simply staring at her newly obtained items, Hermione only sighed. But there was something the orb he gave her, taking out a long silver chain and putting the orb on it, she put it around her neck with her other necklace. Putting the hi-potion in her pocket, she continued to the slum market. Thinking back to the image, she wondered who was it and the package Rowena gave it. But she walked in front of Sybil Trelwany, who was still gazing into a crystal ball as she approached the seer.

“Ah, young Hermione. Welcome back, to my home.” She looked up at her.

”Yeah, I found out the secret of my birthstones, they’re the stones of Godric Gryffindor,” she said. “I have the ring, now what?”

“Go through the underground waterway and head toward the ruins of Godric’s Hallow Palace to get the treasure. But be careful when you’re there.”

Hermione nodded at what was said, then as soon as she walked out of Trelwany’s shop, she bumped into Lupin. He just smiled and bowed at her.

“It’s seemed we were destined to meet more than once,” he said, bowing. “I’m sorry.”

“Not to apologize, Lupin,” Hermione said, looking away from him. “Besides, I realize now you didn’t kill my brother.”

Looking up at a Slytherin banner, she continued, “The Slytherin Empire took him…….”

She looked from the banner and looked down, staring at her birthstones. Lupin slowly put a hand on her shoulder, to comfort her. Smiling, he risked a hug from her, which surprisingly she accepted. Feeling something wet, he guessed she was crying. They parted and Hermione looked up at Lupin.

“I’m going to visit my brother, want to come?” she said.

“No, thank you,” he said, walking away.

Hermione smiled, nodding, before walking toward the hospital where her brother died, stopping at the flower shop before she went. Holding a couple of white lilies flowers in her arms; she entered the room and saw Reks sitting at the chair near the window. She sighed.

“Brother, I brought you white lilies,” she said. “Since you said about how much you liked them?”

The image of her brother disappeared as she placed the lilies on the arm of the chair. She sighed, as she walked out, headed for the underground water as Lupin joined her, walking with Nanaki as her side. Looking at a reflection, she could see white wings on her back. Nanaki nudged her hand and gave her the package she got.

Standing in front of the door to the waterway, Hermione was ready to become a sky pirate, with Nanaki at her side. Thinking being a sky pirate was her destiny, she would discover a greater destiny once she entered the waterway. Swallowing hard, she headed toward the door, with Lupin and Nanaki.

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R&R, please! X3